New
#1
In-place upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit
Yeah, I know it's impossible but some of us have good reason to. So is there a guide on how to do the closest possible equivalent? In my case, I have a 32-bit Windows 7 that I wanna upgrade to 64-bit but move all my files, settings, user profile and everything that makes my current OS what it is.
The biggest problem currently is reinstalling programs which for whatever reason I cannot reinstall such as losing the activation key, losing the installer itself and so on. What can be done to transfer it? Obviously the first step might be copy-pasting the folder in Program Files to the Program Files (x86) on the new machine, its AppData folder. What else? Registry keys must also be copied but is it really that simple? How can one know in advance what exactly to copy?
Is there an official way to transfer the user profile and will it remember customized things like shell extensions, themes and so on?
What else am I looking at? I'm quite obsessive-compulsive so I don't mind spending hours doing what I need to do.
I was wondering if one should simply copy everything except the WINDOWS files to the 64-bit partition and then just have the registry (and other potential problems) to work thru one by one.